Apparatus for increasing the self-parking capacity of a parking lot

ABSTRACT

THE DISCLOSURE INTRODUCES A NEW CONCEPT IN SELF-PARKING WHEREIN A PLURALITY OF AUTOMOBILES MAY BE PARKED ON THE ORIGINAL SURFACE OF A CONVENTIONAL PARKING LOT AND A LIKE PLURALITY OF AUTOMOBILES MAY BE PARKED IN SUPERPOSED RELATION THERETO. A PLURALITY OF SIMILARLY INCLINED DRIVE LANES ARE PROVIDED EACH OF WHICH DRIVE LANES MERGES AT ONE LATERAL PORTION THEREOF WITH THE ORIGINAL PARKING LOT SURFACE AND THE OTHER LATERAL PORTION OF WHICH MERGES WITH AN UPPER PARKING LEVEL SPACED ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE ORIGINAL LOT SURFACE.

I v Il CAPACITY OF A PARKING LOT Filed Nov. 1, 196s v 2 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR WAYNE B. STONE, JR.

ATTORNEY Feb. 9, 1971 w. B. s'roN-E, JR 3,562,774

APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE SELF-PARKING CAPACITY OF A PARKING LOT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 1,-1968 I NVENTOR WAYNE B. STONE, JR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent O l 3,562,774 APPARATUS FOR INCREASING THE SELF- PARKING CAPACITY F A PARKING LOT Wayne B. Stone, Jr., Kensington, Md. (7307 Nevis Road, Bethesda, Md. 20034) Filed Nov. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 772,617 Int. Cl. E04h 6/10 U.S. Cl. 52-174 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure introduces a new concept in self-parking wherein a plurality of automobiles may be parked on the original surface of a conventional parking lot and a like plurality of automobiles may be parked in superposed relation thereto. A plurality of similarly inclined drive lanes are provided each of which drive llanes merges at one lateral portion thereof with the original parking lot surface and the other lateral portion of which merges with an upper parking level spaced above the level of the original lot surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are many areas of business such as parking lots, shopping centers, automobile agencies and the like where increased parking facilities are desirable Ibut the space available for this purpose is limited.

The prior art solutions to the various packing problems existent throughout the country have developed, primarily, along two lines, viz. commercial parking garages and single unit parking structures of the types disclosed in applicants U.S. Pat. 3,277,978 and U.S. patent applications 628,491 (now Pat. No. 3,440,782), 681,771 (now Pat. No. 3,416,269) and 730,426 tiled Apr. 4, 1967, Nov. 9, 1967, and May 20, 1968, respectively. The evolution of parking garages has, also, developed along two lines, viz mechanized and non-mechanized parking. In the case of mechanized garage parking and single unit parking structures the presence of at least one attendant is necessary. When unattended customer parking is provided such as, for example, in a shopping center parking lot; the available ground area is either appropriately lined -for self-parking or a multiple story parking building is constructed and lined for self-parking. In order to most effectively utilize the self-parking capacity of a given level, such as that of an open ground level parking lot or one level of a parking garage; the levels are lined in such a manner that parallel drive lanes extend along opposite sides of a plurality of elongated parking areas. Each of the parking areas is approximately two car lengths in width in order to accommodate a plurality of pairs of cars parked bumper-to-bumper either at right angles to the drive lanes or angularly related thereto.

It is, of course, highly desirable to increase the selfparking capactiay of a given parking level, such as a parking lot, without approaching the cost considerations involved in the erection of a conventional parking building. Although many efforts have been made along these lines, such as represented by the disclosures in U.S. Pats. :1,654,684 and 2,610,364; the prior art approaches to the problem have involved excavation of the original surface level and, in most cases, attendant filling operations. Except where substantial lling operations have been performed on the original lot surface, the cars must be parked at a substantial angle of inclination to 3,562,774 Patented Feb. 9, 1971 the horizontal which represents a further obstacle to public acceptance of structures of the type shown in U.S. Pats. 1.654,684 and 2,610,364. Accordingly, it may be seen that the prior art structures have combined the undesirable attributes of a parking building, as regards construction costs, with the relatively low parking capacity characteristic of basically single-unit type parking structures of the types enumerated above. v

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed to a new concept in selfparking wherein each of a plurality of single drive lanes provide access to a plurality of horizontal parking spaces on the original surface of a lower conventional parking level and a plurality of parking spaces on an upper parking level spaced above the lower parking level.

As previously pointed out, conventional self-parking lots are laid out in such a manner that parallel drive lanes extend along opposite sides of elongated parking areas which areas are approximately two car lengths wide to accommodate bumper-to-bumper parking. The practice of the invention permits these parking areas to, in effect, to be compressed to half their width and still accommodate an equal number of cars thus substantially increasing the parking capacity of a given parking area while maintaining the horizontal disposition of those cars parked on the lower level.

An outstanding feature of the invention resides in the fact that the capactiy of a conventional parking level, which may be represented either by the original surface of an existing parking lot or a substantially horizontal level formed during on-site construction, may be increased Iby substantially more than 50% without the necessity of performing excavating and/or filling operations. A very important corollary to this facet of the invention is that cars parked on the lower level are resting on the original surface of the parking area which will, in most instances, 4be substantially horizontal. As previously intimated, where the invention is being utilized as a part of a new construction, the original surface refers to a substantially horizontal level formed for the purpose of providing lower level parking.

The concept underlying the invention is the provision of drive lanes that are inclined, relative to the lower parking level, in a direction transverse to the normal path of automotive wheel movement along the drive lanes. Static support structures analogous to those described in the aforementioned U.S. patent applications are so 'positioned relative to the inclined drive lanes that an automobile traversing a given inclined drive lane may either turn upwardly along the incline to approach an upper parking level or downwardly along the incline to reach a horizontally disposed parking space directly beneath another of the upper parking levels.

Another important feature of the invention is in the fact that the upper parking levels are inclined relative to the inclination of the drive lanes in such a manner that those automobiles parked on the upper level are disposed at an angle to the horizontal which is substantially less than the angle of the drive lanes relative to the horizontal. A complete explanation of the method of determining the approach, departure and break-over angles which must be' considered in the design of the upper level in order to provide a substantially horizontal disposition for the cars parked on the upper levels appear in applicants aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 628,491.

As will be apparent from an inspection of applicants aforementioned patent applications, the upper parking levels are constructed in such a manner that the steel support structure may be fabricated at a remote site and erected on a chosen parking site in a relatively short period of time. Although it is contemplated that in most installations the inclined drive ways will be formed as a permanent iixture on the parking site, as by pouring concrete or the like, the invention further includes provision for the remote fabrication of the drive lanes whereby minimal interr-uption of normal parking operations will result during installation. Further, in this latter connection, the prefabricated drive lanes and upper parking levels may be removed from the parking lot at a later time, if desired.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other advantages will become more apparent from the ensuing description when considered in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a parking lot constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention having a portion thereof broken away to illustrate the construction of a drive lane;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the relationships between the parking levels and the inclined drive lanes;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view depicting a modilied construction of the drive lane; and

`FIG. 4 is a broken elevational view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSv The original surface of a conventional parking lot is illustrated in FIG. l as 4having constructed thereon a plurality of similarly inclined parallel drive lanes 12 merging at opposite ends thereof with horizontal access roads 14 via transition areas 16. A plurality of spaced rows of upper elongated parking levels or areas 18, appropriately lined for parking as by lines L20, are supported on rows of framin-g structure 22 in spaced superposed relation to the original surface 10 of the parking lot. The original surface of the lot, below upper levels 18, provides additional parking spaces directly beneath those lined on the upper levels as will be more apparent from an inspection of lFIG. 2. The vertical support members forming part of framing structure 22 will provide, at least in part, the delineation of the lower parking spaces which need not, necessarily, be perpendicularly related to the drive lanes.

Inclined drive lanes 12 may be formed from concrete or other similar material as indicated in FIG. l, or as a partially pre-fabricated structure such as shown in FIG. 3. In any event, the 4lower lateral portions of the drive ilanes merge with the original surface 10 while the upper lateral portions merge with upper levels 18. Although the surfaces of the upper levels could be formed in any desired manner, such as by metal decking or the like, the preferred mode of construction is to overlie the framing structures 22 with corrugated steel prior to pouring concrete thereover to provide solid concrete upper decks. The compound inclinations formed in the upper level are for the purpose of permitting the automobiles parked on the upper level to be disposed at an angle to the horizontal which is substantially less than the angle made by the surface of drive lanes 12 with the horizontal. Utilizing the specific dimensions shown in FIG. 2, automobile 24 will be disposed at an angle of approximately 6 to the horizontal when its front Wheels engage wheel stops 26. It will be obvious that if the cantilevered portion 28 of the upper deck were extended and inclined downrwardly a small amount, car 24 could be caused lto assume a perfectly horizontal attitude on 'the upper level. A guard rail 30 is also provided along the upper side of the upper level beyond the Wheel stops 26.

In order to facilitate the turning requirements of an automobile 32 approaching a lower parking space, the vertical supports 34 of framing structure 22 are spaced well back from the inclined drive lane from which car 32 will approach the lower level. This arrangement also provides a covered walk-way for persons walking on the lot in inclement Weather.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 permits the drive lane to be prefabricated, at least in part, in a manner similar to that of the upper level framing structure 22. Thus the drive lane framing structure 36 may be prefabricated with folding legs 38 and covered with corrugated steel for shipment to the installation site at which time, with the legs folded under, concrete is poured on the corrugated steel, the concrete is troweled rough to afford better traction and the legs are swung down to the position of FIGS. 3 and 4 about pivots 40 after the concrete has set up. Appropriate stops are provided to maintain the legs in the position of FIG. 3 and they are, of course, positioned on 'concrete pads previously set into the original surface 10 of the lot.

In operation, an automobile traversing a drive lane 12 at the position of arrow 42 in fF-IG. 1 may either turn upwardly as indicated by the solid arrowhead 44, to reach a parking space on an upper parking level or downwardly, as indicated by the phantom line arrowhead 46, to reach a lower level parking space. Inasmuch as no cars are parked on the drive lanes 12 and each of the upper and lower level parking spaces merge with respective lateral portions of one of the drive lanes, it will be apparent that access is provided for each parking space and parking attendants are not required.

It is, of course, obvious that the upper level could be extended to the right, as viewed in FIG. 2, at an inclination generally parallel to that of the drive lanes to pro- -vide additional parking spaces immediately above the drive lanes. Such a modified arrangement would provide a substantial increase in parking capacity but would require sacrifice of the self-parking capability since attendants would be required to move the cars on upper level 18 to provide' access to the upper level extension.

What is claimed is:

1. Parking structure for increasing the capacity of a self-service parking'. area, comprising; a substantially horizontal lower parking level, a plurality of spaced rows of support members extending upwardly from the lower level, said support members defining automotive parking Spaces therebetween on said lower levels; spaced rows of upper parking level supported on said support members in superposed relation to said lower level parking spaces; means defining automotive drive lanes extending between said spaced rows from end-to-end thereof; said means including structures supported on and extending upwardly from said lower surface and presenting generally right-triangular shapes in cross-section with the longer legs thereof extending along the surface of the lower parking level and drive lanes extending parallel to said rows along the hypotenuses of the triangular cross-section between the spaced rows; the drive lanes being similarly inclined relative to said lower level; the lower lateral edge portions of said inclined drive lanes merging with said lower parking level to provide automotive access to the lower level parking space; the upper lateral edge portions of said drive lanes merging with said upper parking levels to provide automotive access thereto; and each of said upper parking levels including a portion thereof downwardly inclined relative to the slope of the inclined drive lane merging therewith.

2. The parking structure of claim 1 wherein at least a part of said downwardly inclined portion of said upper parking level extends beyond said support means in the direction of said inclined drive lanes.

3. The parking structure of claim 1 wherein a second upper parking level is supported in superposed relation to a plurality of lower level parking spaces; and wherein 5 the upper lateral portions of said inclined drive lanes FOREIGN PATENTS merge with said second upper parking level t0 provide 1,469,466 1967 France 52 169 automotive access thereto. 612,754 1960 Italy 52 174 4. The parking structure of claim 1 wherein said in- 346 998 1960 Switzerland 52 175 clined drive lanes include metal framing structure. 5

OTHER REFERENCES References Cited S 't b l UNITED STATES PATENTS 1963/9 grlz ove and Be ow, Interbuild, November 2,580,204 12/1951 Toalmin 52-175 2,610,364 9/ 1952 Brower 52-174 10 HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner 

